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Continued from yesterday's instalment
If the reader would recall, we were discussing the verse by which Bharata explained to Guha the purpose of his visit to the forest. While doing so, Bharata who was in the habit of referring to Dasaratha as 'the Emperor' referred to him as 'my father.' There seems to be a peculiar reason for his saying so, apart from what we stated yesterday.
 Dasaratha, as we saw had precluded Bharata from performing his funeral rites, and disowned both Kaikeyi and Bharata as his wife and son respectively. At the time of cremation Vasishtha informed Bharata about the words of Dasaratha. 'Who else other than I in our lineage could have had such a windfall? I am declined the duty and right of a son to his father. 'piradha poosanaikku uriya peru ilen' I don't have the
right to light the funeral pyre of my father and pay my homage to him and my ancestors.
'arasu seiyavo amaivadhu aayinen' And I was thought fit to rule the vast kingdom of my father and ancestors. Tradition has it that one who inherits the right of ancestral property passes only to the one who performs his duties to his ancestors as specified in the sacred books.
The situation is peculiar here. Bharata has been given the kingdom by his scheming mother though he was not for it. And because of the same act of his mother, he lost the rights of a son, for no fault of his. Bharata's heart was bleeding and at least in the
innermost recesses he should have felt that he should have been given an opportunity to be heard before such a cruel punishment was pronounced on him. His heart
was lacerated and bleeding and was lamenting inwardly, 'What did I do to deserve this?' Though he did not mention it explicitly, his words on various occasions
confirm it.
When he met Kausalya, he started with the pleading, 'Mother! Have you not stopped him
(Rama) from going to the forest? 'pidithu ileer polum neer' You have done a great mistake.
'pizhaithiraal.' So saying, he fell at her feet and rolled on the ground out of anguish. This was an accusation. But it was not direct. He could not say so, for he knew very well that Kausalya would have tried to stop Rama and that
Rama would have been firm on his decision. But nonetheless, the words slip from his mouth, indicating the gash that his heart had suffered and the exhibiting the need to find a source that could at least partake in this pain.
 It was not his intention to hold somebody else responsible for this situation. Self-reproach and self-condemnation soon took over him and these became
his normal state of mind. It was too much for him - as could be for any son bound by filial affection and tender feelings towards his parents - to have been prevented from performing the funeral rites, and to have been told in the presence of a large number of
people that Dasaratha disowned him. That is probably why we hear him mentioning
'thanthai' (the sentence is framed in such a manner that the word 'my' is implicit. Of course, it can also be interpreted to mean 'our father.') That would have applied a
soothing lotion on his heart.
Then, if he called Dasaratha 'my father' he should have referred to Rama as
'annan.' Instead, he says, mannanaik konarvaan. He could have said annanaik
konarvaan. That does not in any way affect the golden rules of prosody!
More follows…
Hari Krishnan
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